U.S. Debt Jumps to $17.076 Trillion

A statue of former Treasury Secretary Albert Gallatin stands outside the Treasury Building in Washington on Aug. 8, 2011.(AP Photo/Jacquelyn Martin, File)

Well, that didn’t take long. Congress’s deal to suspend the government’s borrowing limit on Wednesday night led to a sharp spike in total U.S. debt on Thursday. This is largely because the Treasury Department had been using emergency steps to prevent the debt from increasing since mid-May. Total government debt had hovered at close to $16.7 trillion for around five months.

But when the debt ceiling was increased on Wednesday, Treasury was immediately able to rebalance its books and refund pensions and other programs that had gone unfunded since earlier in the year. That snapped total U.S. debt to a record $17.076 trillion, Treasury revealed on Friday.

Wednesday night’s agreement suspends the debt ceiling until Feb. 7, meaning the government can borrow as much money as it needs to cover obligations now and that time.

Related: WSJ’s Damian Paletta and Peter Nicholas say that while there is now a framework in place for budget negotiations, expectations are low. From “Seib and Wessel.”

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